AT&T Performing Arts Centre, Dallas

14.10.09

The AT&T Performing Arts Centre has opened in Dallas. The $354 million centre includes the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House by Foster & Partners and REX/OMA’s Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre among its facilities, which are the new home for a slew of local creative organisations. It’s the biggest cultural facility built in the United States since New York’s Lincoln Centre in the 1960s.

The complex also contains a 10-acre public park designed by landscape architect Michel Desvigne of Paris. The Elaine D and Charles A Sammons Park is the first public park in the 68-acre Dallas Arts District and will feature mature trees, multiple lawns with natural gardens, a reflecting pool, promenades and walkways. Other facilities include the Annette Strauss Artist Square and the City Performance Hall, which will open in 2011.

The week-long opening celebrations kicked off on Monday and include concerts, public art installations, outdoor performances, architecture forums and world premier contemporary dance, culminating with a special community open house 18 October.